Our one-week-long national nightmare is over

For the first time in its decade of existence, MSNBC will not be relying on "Imus in the Morning" to drive tens of thousands of viewers to its air. Last night Paul Harris and I were talking off-air, and we were both kind of at a loss to answer this question: Why now? Why, of all the incidents involving inappropriate behavior by Don Imus and his crew, did this one involving the Rutgers women’s basketball team set off the perfect storm that led to the media frenzy and subsequent suspension and calls for his scalp?

Here are the factors I would cite in the I-Man Convergence: First, Media Matters for America. They were ready to go. They had video up of the I-Man’s comments last Wednesday, complete with damning histories on Imus, his provocateur Bernard McGuirk, and sports fill-in Sid Rosenberg who, as I noted here on Tuesday, was supposed to be banned forever from “Imus in the Morning” two years ago. Second, it was a slow news week, as evidenced by the flurry of “Sopranos”-related media inquiries I received. And thirdly, he said it. The I-Man goofed and allowed himself to utter a phrase that typically would have been handled by McGuirk, Rosenberg, or one of the fictional characters in the room. When Imus tells you he's a good man who did a bad thing, he’s got it half right at least.

But as for his charge that everyone covering this story is just a hypocrite — meaning, they’ve known for years he does comedy like this — all I can say is so what?  There really aren’t a lot of options for leaving television. Some people do the slow fade, others retire, while still others get the hook. Imus got the hook, and although maybe he should’ve seen it coming, he didn’t. None of us did.

For years I’ve had an on-again, off-again relationship with his MSNBC show (it’s on radio here, too ... somewhere on my AM dial). I would tune it in for a few days, sometimes put it on the TiVo as a season pass, but after a while I’d stop. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy the conversations with authors and newsmakers, and I’d be a hypocrite to say the yuksters didn’t make me laugh. A lot. I had great respect, too, for the relationships Imus has built over the years with his newsreader Chuck McCord, his regular guests, and his wife Deirdre. But there was something about the abrasive, corrosive humor on the show. It would start to pile up like Imus Ranch cow droppings, and in time the stink would always drive me away. Rosenberg was the worst, but McGuirk was more disturbing because he could be a genuinely funny guy, too — and got the most leeway of anybody to make off-color jokes.

That MSNBC show was what separated Don Imus from his archrival Howard Stern, and don't think both guys didn't know it. Miniscule as its audience was, it gave the I-man a cachet and influence few pure radio hosts enjoy. Now that it’s gone, you realize Imus and Stern really aren't that different. Don’t believe the bloviators who say there’s “no place” for a show like “Imus in the Morning” in our culture. Of course there’s a place for it ... it’s called radio.

 

Comments

[Mark Roberts]

"Of course there’s a place for it ... it’s called radio."

Sad but probably true. Radio is desperate for attention. It's irrelevant to entire generations, having niched and formatted itself into a box. Who needs robotic FM playlists when you can make up your own robotic playlist and change it anytime you want on your iPod? Local news could have been a differentiator, but most stations ditched it 25 years ago. Program directors and consultants claimed it was a "tuneout". That manner of thinking was a tacit admission that the rest of a station's programming was not compelling enough to bring listeners back if they did tune out. So the only thing that now sets radio apart from other media are loud-mouthed, childish talk-show hosts who'll say anything to get a few minutes of attention. If CBS dumps Imus, I'll be surprised. Imus and Stern and Limbaugh and Beck are all the same, really. They hang on to radio because radio programmers lack the talent to come up with anything better and radio management is too afraid to try something, anything new. The disappointing financial performance of the CBS radio division is likely to be a factor, too. If current management gives up Imus, they're probably giving up their own jobs in a year or less.

[Aaron]

If CBS dumps Imus, it will be their loss and another company's gain. Possibly satellite radio's. (He did a smart thing allying with Opie and Anthony, I must say.)

You know, I heard a really disturbing report on NPR last night that raised my libertarian hackles. It was describing the details of a so-called "payola" settlement between the FCC and the radio industry. And they talked to this guy representing the indie musicians who basically talked out of both sides of his mouth. On the one hand, he said that indie artists were being kept off radio stations because of payola practices, hence the need for this unprecedented meddling by the indecency police. In the very next breath, the guy said, oh, radio's lack of innovation is the reason their audience is down. Really? Then why drag the feds into this? Why not let the market continue to punish these chuckleheads? Why not let top-40 stations die so that Triple-A formats can rise up in their place? When was Arcade Fire or Wilco or any other truly exceptional indie band ever kept from reaching the public because of radio?

Someone find that story for me, please.

Finally, I hope nobody thinks this is going to get the Rutgers women off the hook for their disgraceful performance a week ago. Tennessee didn't win its seventh national title so much as Rutgers blew the chance to win its first.

[Mark Jeffries]

Here you go, Chief:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9521092

[Chief1963]

The nightmare isn't over...it's just beginning. We will look back on this day as the day Free Speech died.

In this country, it now appears Free Speech is only for those with a liberal viewpoint. If you're not on the left, and you say something controversial, you're a hate mongerer. If you're liberal, it's "free speech".

Don Imus said something that is on numerous rap albums...including many on labels that CBS owns. Are they going to fire all those people as well? I doubt it.

[Tom]

Rosie O'Donnell said that the World Trade Centers were taken down NOT by the terrorists, but by explosives. She has not said who blew it up, but probably it was Bush and Cheney (wink, wink). Any outrage here over Rosie's statement???

[Honest Abe]

I think that this one just might come back and bite Jesse 'Hymietown' Jackson in the the butt.

[caroline carter]

But the national nightmare is NOT over...it is just beginning. Now "politically correct" speech is a requirement for everyone not engaged in the Rap Industry...and worse still, a frightening new definition of the "right and courageous" thing to do has taken hold. I, for one, am terrified by the power of a few professional malcontents who NEVER quite have "fact" or "truth" on their side. Now we know that we can dismantle the military and end all "war" as we know it, because WORDS can now be employed to OFFEND our "enemies" (and friends alike) into mind-numbing-herd-like total submission and defeat.

[J-sizzle]

Damn you just can't make racial slurs without getting fired anymore...whats happening to our society.

[Mark Jeffries]

CBS has been out of the record business for almost 20 years. Columbia Records is now owned by Sony BMG. Have you ever heard of the words "Google" and "Wikipedia?"

[David]

What are we to do with Imus? What a terrible crime he has committed. What would satisfy our "outrage?" I know, Let's fill a football stadium and bring him out and publically have him drawn and quartered! Let's feed him to the Lions! Better yet, boil him in oil! Make him suffer the most ignominious death imanginable. Utterly and completely humiliate him! Would that be enough?

Who among us has not said something at one time or another that we wish we could take back? I'm not defending his comments - they were wrong - but what's the real story here? It's not Imus - it's the "Rev." Al Sharpton and the "Rev." Jessie Jackson and their shamless, sickening, grandstanding. They have no busines claiming the moral high-ground, having been guilty of outrageous comments themselves. This is the most gratuitous, pandering, disgusting, reprehensible bahavior on the part of our so-called black leaders I have ever witnessed. Oprah Winfry and her ilk included. To listen to the breathless news coverage, you would think this basketball team had suffered at the hands of the most violent criminal imaginable. Were they beaten? Tortued? Raped? No. Don Imus called them "hoes." MY GOD, WILL THEY EVER RECOVER?

And where did the word come from? Imus did not coin the phrase - it came from the same group who is so outraged. Outraged about what? That a white man has the audacity to use a phrase that's commonly used by nearly every hip-hop and rap "artist" to record a song in the past 20 years.

What about the real damage done to the falsly indicted Duke Lacross players? Did the media focus even an approaching equality in its coverage of that event? NO! KC Star included. Imus was page 1 and Duke was buried under the fold on page 2. Rediculous.

What a cowardly move to fire Imus. Who is CBS afraid of? Who made the Revs. Jackson and Sharpton the arbitors of what speech "should not be permmited" to use their phrase? The last time I checked, the constitution protects our right to free speech. One of the prime lessons that most of us learn in life is "just because someone says something, doesn't make it true." Imus uttered some words that were derrogatory, he didn't attack the team with a deaely weapon!

I am digusted beyond words at the abject stupidity of the entire situation.

[Mike]

Aaron-- you said earlier that Ms. Lokeman use of the term "nappy headed" would be an issue. I just watched CNN about 45 minutes ago or so and one of guests, a black woman, wouldn't repeat it any of what Imus said. Ms. Lokeman's use last Sunday isn't the only time I've read this in the last week. I read something (I think a column on MSNBC of all places) where the author talked about her own nappy hair.

I guess I didn't get the rule book on when these terms were okay for some and not others. I thought it was a slur all the time.

By the way, Jason Whitlock was also on the CNN show. He wrote possibly his best column the other day on the issue and it caught the attention of CNN.

Thanks

[ptgkc]

The nightmare is just beginning. But Al Sharpton better be careful what he wants.

First, look at this incident for what it is. It's personal. Sharpton has been waiting to jump on Imus for years. Imus has ridiculed him for two decades and this is simply payback. From Sharpton, I don't buy the bigger agenda of "cleaning" the airwaves. Normally, this incident would have disappeared, but Al spent a week on every show that would have him to drill this into our national agenda.

If there was a bigger agenda, Rev. Al and Jesse, while protesting at CBS, should have stopped by their partner company Viacom and continued to protest the racially offensive shows and videos played on their networks channels: BET, MTV, VH1 and Comedy Central. If advertisers left shows there, whole channels would disappear. Wouldn't it be ironic if Sharpton caused the downfall of BET.

Maybe someone will take up this national conversation and hopefully continue root out offensive actions, no matter where they are. For my part, I don't think I'll buy any P&G products until they pull their ads from all those channels that supporting damaging stereotypes. Let's hold them to be consistent and not hypocrites by singling out one man.

On the other hand, I don't think most people care. As Bill Maher said, this is fake outrage. This isn't the "N" word, which can't be used in news rooms. However, what Imus said has to be the most repeated phrase I've heard on the news since "WMD". How offensive can it be when everyone is repeating it?

Bottom line is pop culture is so low, no matter how "offensive" something might be, it will be celebrated in some circles. Don't believe me? Look at the merchandise just popping up. While one man loses his job, others are making money from his sin and many are just too happy to contribute and buy. Watch for the t-shirts, teddy bears and even baby clothes proclaiming they are proud to be just what Imus said. That money would be better spent on kids with cancer or war veterans' treatment facilities. Oh wait, they fired the fundraiser that helped those causes.

Who was doing more good:
Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund - Radio-show host and contributor Don Imus helped raise the last 40 percent of the funds for the center by campaigning on his show for six weeks. While there, consider donating.

http://www.fallenheroesfund.org/fallenheroes/press_room/item.php?id=33

Or the self promoter peddling victimization with offensive language, with this being part of the end result:

Infant Bodysuit
Standard T-shirt neck. Colors: White, Pink, Baby Blue. Sizes: 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, 2T (24 months).

http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q='nappy-headed+ho%22+t-shirt&hl=en&safe=off&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-37,GGLD:en&um=1&sa=X&oi=froogle&ct=title

[Elinor Bowles]

As deplorable as the language and graphics of some of the rappers are, they do not target specific people with their slime. Imus did. He called ten specific women "nappy headed hos." And that is a major difference. Is there still something called slander? And I hope this is the beginning of the end of gangster/vulgar/obscene rap as a step toward depolluting our communities and giving the truly talented rappers out there, such as Common and others, a chance to be heard and appreciated. Let's get rid of the rotten apples, but don't tar all rappers with the same brush!

[Kit Miller]

Now the woman of that basketball team is getting hate mail. Americans should be ashamed of themselves.

[Aaron]

Oh, there's a shocker.

OK, let's continue the conversation on today's posting.

http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/2007/04/a_face_in_the_c.html

(or just reload the home page)